Friday

The following was written by Babs Barron, a chartered psychologist in independent practice in the UK who writes under a pseudonym because she wishes to keep her work and her professional life entirely separate from her politics.

The allegedly “moderate” nature of Islam in western society is thrust at us at every opportunity, and most often when that moderateness is called into question by violence towards the rest of us by the very people to whom it is so freely applied. The US, Spain and the UK have suffered terrorist outrages at the hands of Muslims resident there, who, outwardly at least, seemed to conform to the mores of their societies at first, but then went on to murder innocent people in the name of Islam.

Whereas there is no definitive explanation for the sudden eruption of hitherto apparently peaceable Muslims into the perpetration of terrorism, the process has been given a name – Sudden Jihad Syndrome – by Daniel Pipes among others. I concur with Pipes that the tendency towards jihad may not be sudden on the part of the perpetrators. The process of indoctrination may have taken years while all the time the jihadi-in-waiting goes about his life, to all intents and purposes appearing to be an upright citizen. No, the suddenness is in the acting out and perception of those towards whom the attacks are directed.

One almost invariably hears these perpetrators described as “family people” and “good neighbours” by the shocked non-Muslim communities in which they lived, so it made sense to me to try to formulate a method by which we might be able to assess, from our ordinary day-to-day conversations with self-styled moderate Muslims, whether their actual beliefs match what they say and their behaviours towards the rest of us.

A friend and I came up with the term “Muslim roulette” to denote the vague unease which we and other mindful people often experience when we hear the “moderate Muslim” mantra from them. Most of us check that feeling when we experience it and may blame ourselves for doubting them in the absence of proof that they actually mean us harm. But how can we know for certain that they do not? The answer is, of course, that we cannot. We cannot read their minds and far too often we are forced into playing “Muslim roulette” until we find out whether they can be trusted.

My friend and I therefore came up with some questions (added to by Citizen Warrior when I ran them by him) which can be sensitively embedded in conversation with Muslims with whom we can talk freely about their beliefs and who insist that they are moderate. I stress “sensitively” – put too bluntly or in an interrogatory manner they would result in defensiveness. The aim here should be to assess from the answers to what, after all, are reasonable questions, and the way in which those answers are delivered, whether there is any dissonance between what the person says and what s/he believes, and also to lessen the odds that you are unwittingly engaged in a game of “Muslim roulette” by trusting this person.

Any reticence or defensiveness or anger or refusal to discuss the matter further would, I believe, be telling, although whether those would denote defensiveness, hurt feelings or anything else is moot. Having said all that, however, would it not be reasonable to assume that a truly moderate Muslim would not be made uncomfortable by the questions?

Here are the questions:

Do you believe that all faiths/belief systems are equally valid? (If not, why not?)

Do you believe that men and women are equal in intelligence and ability? (If not, why not?)

Do you believe that every nation/faith/denomination should have the right to self-determination and to live in safety provided that it is a good neighbour? (A moderate Muslim would have little or no difficulty with, say, Israel's right to exist as a Jewish nation, warts and all).

Do you believe that all the commandments in the koran should be followed literally and to the letter? Do you accept that the ahadith and sunna are valid interpretations of how all Muslims should live? (The best answer here would be along the lines of “No, not in this day and age.” A “yes” answer indicates cognitive dissonance between what this person believes and how s/he describes himself to you).

Do you believe that everyone should be free to leave the faith/belief system that they are born into without fear of reprisal? (If the answer is “Yes”, you can follow up by asking whether that should apply to Muslims too).

Do you follow Mohammad’s example in the way you live your life? (Again, if the answer is “Yes” you need to find out how much your interlocutor actually knows about how Mohammad lived his life. It will be obvious that a “Yes” answer, coming from someone who knows about Mohammad’s sociopathy as evidenced by his behaviour towards the tribes who opposed him, and believes that the koran, ahadith and sunna should be followed to the letter, or believes that men are superior to women, acts as a disqualifier from any claim to moderateness).

You may be able think of other questions and please feel free to add them and share them with the rest of us, but my respectful advice is that you pay careful attention to how you phrase them. The aim here is to enquire and assess whether this really is a moderate Muslim.

Posted by Citizen Warrior

8
comments:

That's all nice and intellectually warm and fuzzy, but completely irrelevant. The only thing we have to do is have a clear mind regarding Islam and Muslims. It is not up to us to psychologically profile every Muslim we come into contact with. It is up to Muslims to become civilized and sane, but since they are not going to do that in a trustworthy manner, ever, then there is no point in hoping, believing, thinking, praying or wishing that they will. If they want to renounce Islam and become apostate, that's one thing, but if they want to remain Muslim and pretend sanity and civility, that's another. It is not about us trying to find a way to analyze them so that we can somehow, hopefully figure out which ones to trust and which ones not to trust. It IS about us remaining clear minded and resolute about reality. Reality is that they kill us and cannot be trusted, ever, period. What is a life among Muslims when one has to spend every moment in red alert mode waiting to dodge bullets, bombs, knives, acid, etc.? To me, that is not a life.

What is "peaceful of moderate Islam" ? One answer is that it's a watered down form of Islam. Therefore, the jihadist Islam that so violent,cruel and deadly which is militant Islam thus a non-watered down, hard core Islam that comes straight out of the Quran, as for example Sura 9:11. and 47:4. Nevertheless, all Islam is a tyrannical mind control system that has much power over the lives of millions of people around the world." Thus it's fitting to site the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson when he stated "I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

There should be no surprise by anyone when a Muslim blows up people randomly. It is their intent to creep into all societies and take them hostage unexpectedly.

This is how the "perfect man" made his religion famous. Muhammad M.P.N.B.U.H "May peace not be upon him" accomplished his goals through the exact opposite methods as all other religious figures in history.

This unfortunate man, Muhammad, is the Anti-Human. Islam is against humanity as much as Aids is against the sexual health of people.

Muslims are opposed to all rational ways of normal, human behaviour as much as water is opposed to fire.

To believe otherwise is folly and terribly ignorant as well as foolish.

Hi Anonymous. Part of me agrees with you in that I doubt that any practising Muslim can be moderate. Nevertheless many of us are in situations where we have to interact with Muslim at work or elsewhere.

I am aiming here to begin the process of trying to encourage awareness in average happy clappy multi culti mindless people who believe what they are told - that Islam is a religion of peace - regardless of the evidence to the contrary. I am starting gently because I know from experience that telling it like it really is causes said multi culties to become very defensive and close their ears.

Just as you wouldn't let a stranger in if you were alone in your house late at night it makes sense not to let a self-described "moderate" Muslim (and yes, I believe that it's probably a contradiction in terms)into your confidence until you've checked him/her out.

Muslims/Islamists can be very friendly and good neighbors, and I don’t doubt that in some cases come to like their non-Muslim/Islamists friends and neighbors but everyone should be aware that a large portion of the monies Muslims/Islamists donate to their Wahhabi Mosques supports WORLD WIDE MUSLIM/ISLAMIC TERRORISM. In America today there are over 1,500 Wahhabi Mosques and controlling Imams and increasing every day, totally paid for by the Saudi.s

It should be noted that beginning in 1969/1970 Muslim/Islamic immigration was Ordered/Directed by the Saudis, and other Muslim/Islamic Heads of State as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, al Quaida, ETC. None of these immigrants were attempting to escape from a suppressive government, as all non-Muslims have.

All, I repeat All Muslim/Islamic Terrorist Attacks in America and all other non-Muslim Nations are supported by the Wahhabi Mosques and directed by the Imams. 9/11 is a prime example with Wahhabi Mosques and Imams from Southern California to Arizona and across the nation to New York. These Imams proved all targets, and selected the right flights to hit these targets. They paid for the flight training of these Saudi Muslim/Islamic Terrorists, all housing, travel etc.

One final note, all Mosques in New York are on NYPD Watch Lists.

One other important Item must be noted about your Friendly Muslim/Islamic Neighbors, today across America they have influenced Schools Systems to have Mandatory Classes Teaching our Children K-12 to be Muslims/Islamists. These are not classes that explain Islam, they teach it. A Superior Court has ruled that this is Legal and the Supreme Court has refused to hear this.

It's true, but like most cults, the believers don't actually know very much about their religion. This is true of Mormons and Scientologists as well. And any attempt to question them on it is met with either defense, silence or repetitive brainwashed nonsense that answers none of your questions. The sad thing is is that there are many people who are Muslim that we will run into, have to work with, live next to. The only thing you can sadly do is to keep your guard up, and reconcile with yourself that you are not a racist or bigot, you simply can't trust people who are indoctrinated into a cult to be sensible or react to extreme situations rationally. It's for your own safety.

At 73 I find "Muslim Roulette "dangerous and scary.I am afraid to have awaken to the mess I have been sleeping in all these years.My introduction to Political Islam has been through "The Story of Mohammed"recently.The story has created a path for me.Where will it lead me?Do I move forward or go back to sleep?I'd rather be a Citizen Warrior.Watch for me I am UR neighbor,friend,coworker etc.Nobody special."end Human bankruptcy"an idea whose time has come.

Ben Shapiro does a short powerful video listing how many Muslims in quite a number of countries are what are known as radical. He finds that about 800 million are NOT moderate.He shows how many:1) Believe in Sharia for themselves and or other countries.2) Believe that honor killings are sometimes justified3) Support Hamas4) Positive feelings of Bin Laden5 Support terror attacks on Israel6) Justify suicide bombings7) Prosecute cartoonists of Muhammed8) Violence against civilians can be justifiedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvg

Index for the Quran

Chronological Order

If you have a traditional Qur'an, get a PDF document to help you read the chapters in the order they were revealed rather than the traditional order (which is the longest to the shortest chapter): Click here.

Start Your Own Leaflet Campaign

Use this very informative and economical leaflet to help educate your fellow non-Muslims about Islam. Click here to read about the idea and get links to the PDF downloads.

Pamphlets and Leaflets

Print these out and use them to help you inform your fellow non-Muslims: Click here.

Brochure About Islam

This is a full color PDF document to print a two-sided brochure about basic information on Islam:

Let's Help Each Other

Take the Pledge

Some people say Islam is a religion of peace and that Islam has been hijacked by extremists, terrorists, and stealth jihadists who twist and distort the peaceful teachings of the Quran and quote it out of context.

Others say that political, supremacist, and even violent teachings are fundamental to Islam, and that people who say otherwise either haven’t read the Quran or are protecting Islam with religious deception (taqiyya).

The general confusion about the nature of Islam makes us collectively unable to make informed decisions. You can help end this confusion by reading the Quran. Stop believing what other people say and find out for yourself.

Article Spotlight

It illustrates the Islamic Supremacist vision by showing the similarity between what happened in the movie, Pleasantville, and what devout fundamentalist Muslims are trying to create in Islamic states like Syria, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia (and ultimately everywhere in the world).